Dragon Master
by Fragments of Imagination
Summary: The people of Berk were confused about Hiccup's sudden disappearance, Stoick's change in behavior, and Astrid who suddenly quited Dragon Training. What's happened actually? Why the dragons stopped raiding Berk and what's Hiccup role in this? (Hiccup/Astrid. Don't like don't read) *Chapter 7 edited*
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

Chapter 1

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**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

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_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

**Emphasis**

**_Dangerous Tone_**

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**_Prologue_**

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He would never thought that his live would become so complicated, but then again, he should expect it the second he freed the dragon he managed to catch instead of killing it.

For over 300 years his people resided in the Isle of Berk, they were on war with the dragons. Most people would flee at the sight of dragons raiding their home, but not them. Why? Because they were Vikings and Vikings have . . . stubbornness issue, so instead of running away, they fought against the dragons.

He was the son of a chief of Hairy Hooligans, a tribe of Vikings, and yet he couldn't even use an axe properly. He also seemed to have a bad luck, because every inventions he created to help and be acknowledged by his people always failed or backfired. Then, just when his invention work properly and he managed to shot down the Night Fury, the most feared dragon ever, he couldn't kill the dragon.

Well . . . he **wouldn't**, actually.

That night, when he come face to face with the Night Fury, he could see the fear in the dragon's eyes and it's intelligent when the dragon reacted to what he said to himself. The Dragon Manual said to never engage a Night Fury, because their only chance was to 'hide and pray it never find you', and yet what he saw that time was only a terrified creature, in which he saw himself. His decision was to free it, something that was against what Vikings do, he freed a dragon instead of slaying it.

He never regret that decision.

He was never accepted by his people, and the first to accept him was Toothless, the exact same dragon with the one he freed. Toothless lose his left tail fin when he shot the Night Fury from the sky, the dragon couldn't get out from the cove he was trapped in, and he was the one who helped the downed dragon back to the sky.

During the time he was helping Toothless to fly again, he found many things about dragons. Berkians believed that dragons were nothing but mindless creatures, he found that dragons were very intelligent and were as alive as humans, they acted different when they didn't feel threatened. When he first become one with Toothless and fly for real for the first time, he understood that what they believed about dragons was wrong, they didn't have to kill the dragons. So, he didn't. He wouldn't kill dragons if he could help it, because dragons were the first to accept him instead of his own tribe.

He, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, was the first Viking in 300 years who wouldn't kill a dragon, even though it's a tradition for Vikings to kill a dragon to be acknowledge as one.

That's why his live become complicated now.

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : Well, that's for the Prologue, the next chapter will come out in less than a week. This is my first HTTYD story, I hope you like it. Riview Please ^ ^


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

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_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

**_Dangerous Tone_**

* * *

"Clean clothes, money, dried food . . ." Hiccup mumbled as he checked the preparation for his little vacation, which would be for a very long time since he was sure he couldn't stay in Berk any longer.

Hiccup was chosen to be the one who kill the dragon in the Kill Ring the next day, and he didn't think that he could do it, so he planned on leaving Berk. Not only that, if he stayed any longer, the possibility of him befriending a dragon being exposed was high, he couldn't risk his friend's safety just because he was reluctant to leave his homeland.

"Okay, that's nearly everything, only some tools in the Forge left." He said to himself once he finished checking his stuffs, he looked out of his room's window and saw that it was late afternoon, "It's good that Dad is still in the Great Hall with Gobber, or I might unable to leave with good preparation." He said with a sigh before carrying the bag to the back of his house then head out for the forge, he took the tools needed for the prosthetic tail fin from the forge and wrapped them with a cloth before walking back to his house.

Arriving in the house, Hiccup lifted a bucket filled with fishes that he took from the dock beforehand then head out of the house once again, he went to the back of his house before hurrying to the cove where his best friend was waiting for him while carrying his bag and bucket.

"Toothless!" He called out once he arrived in the cove. A happy croon answered as a black colored dragon came out from behind a rock, his scaly friend nudged his hand with his big head in greetings. "It's nice to see you as well, buddy." He said as he put his bag down to the ground before he pushed the bucket over and spilled it's content, Toothless's head was too big to fit into the small bucket anyway. "Here you go." He said with a smile, his smile widened as he saw how happy Toothless seemed when he ate.

While waiting for Toothless to finish his food, he pulled out a map from his bag and looked over it for a place good enough for them to stay for a long time. He figured that it would be best to not get too far and not too close from Berk, in case his Father would search for him, since he would surely thought that Hiccup would go to the nearest islands or the farthest from Berk, so his best bet was to settle on an island in the middle area. He also need to chose an island that would be accessible from another village, so that he could get to the village easily when he need to be, like using the forge for example.

One island caught his attention, from the look at it, the island was uninhabited by humans and had enough forest to hide them from outsiders. The island was not as big as Berk, about half of Berk, but it was more than enough for Hiccup and Toothless to live in. Not to mention it was near a village, he could come there if he need to the forge, maybe need a bit of payment but it didn't matter.

One thing that he know of that area was the fact that they didn't get raid as bad as Berk by the dragons, his chance to explaining to them that dragons weren't really dangerous was better than with Berkians. His only job before trying to tell them the true nature of dragons was to find out the reason why the dragons keep raiding their villages, without knowing their reason, his chance to show the people that dragons weren't dangerous creatures was as good as trying to fix a roof without knowing which part that need to be fixed.

Hiccup was pulled from his thought when he felt a nudge from his side, he looked up to see Toothless staring at him with curious eyes, his dragon warbled questioningly at him. "I was just thinking, Toothless." Hiccup answered with a smile, "Anyway . . ." He stood up and put back his map into his bag before picking it up, "Now that you finished eating, let's get out of here. The sooner we go, the lower the chance of people finding us because they are searching for me".

Toothless shot Hiccup his toothless smile and nudged him to hurry up and climb on in his excitement, earning an amused chuckle from Hiccup, "Alright." Hiccup said with a grin himself and climbed on to the saddle, Toothless sprang into the air once Hiccup finished securing himself.

They didn't noticed a lone figure who arrived in the cove just in time to see them took off. Well, Toothless noticed it but he just ignored it. Hiccup also didn't noticed that his Journal had fell from the bag when he pulled out his map, the book was left behind in the cove.

XXXXX

A blond haired Viking with sea blue eyes could be seen marching through the woods while looking around, her eyes narrowed and she was huffing, from breathless and frustration.

Astrid Hofferson was frustrated, that much was clear, not only that she didn't get chosen to kill the dragon in the Kill Ring, but she had lose sight of Hiccup. She was planning to follow the boy to see what he was always doing in the woods, but her parents had called for her and told her that it's alright if she couldn't win, that they didn't disappointed in her or anything, and that they were proud of her for managing to get the second place, and so on.

Fortunately, she could hear a voice not too far from her location, so she followed it. She was confused however, because the voice that she heard was only that of Hiccup, without any other voice answered the boy aside from some strange noise. She wondered if the Chief's son had gone mad, too nervous about the next day maybe, and decided to talk with some random animals.

And talking to an animal he did, but Astrid never thought that the said animal would be a **dragon**, the enemy of Vikings. One thing that caught her attention was the fact that she didn't recognize the dragon from the ones who had been raiding Berk all this time, so she could only assume that the dragon was the mysterious Night Fury. The other thing that caught her attention was the saddle on the dragon's back, she saw it when Hiccup climbed onto the saddle before they took off, and the fact that the dragon would allow a human to ride on it.

Her frustration flew away, confusion and disbelief filling her head instead, and she was left gaping like a fish. She couldn't comprehend what had actually happened, she didn't know whether her eyes were playing tricks on her or Hiccup the Useless actually did fly away on a dragon's back. One thing was for certain though, the boy was leaving for a long time, if his bag was anything to goes by.

"What the hell?" She asked herself once she get her voice back, she blinked and looked around to see if there's any other person who witness the same thing so she could be sure that she wasn't daydreaming or something. That was when she caught the sight of a lone book on the ground not far from a bucket.

Her curiosity won over her confusion and she went to pick it up, she raised an eyebrow when she didn't see anything on the cover, so she flipped the cover to see the first page, her eyes widened instantly. The title was written on the first page, she immediately recognize it to be Hiccup's hand writing, even after so long she didn't see the boy's hand writing, the way the boy wrote was still the same that she can recognize it without trouble. But that wasn't the reason why her eyes widened in shock, it was the title in which Hiccup's hand writing formed on the first page.

" 'How to Train Your Dragon'?" Astrid mumbled before she gasped and looked at the spot where Hiccup and the Night Fury flew off to, "No way . . . Hiccup trained a **DRAGON**?!".

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

* * *

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

**_Dangerous Tone_**

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"Search for him!" A huge man with red hair yelled to the people, "Search in the entire village and the woods, Hiccup should be around somewhere!".

The crowd immediately scattered to go and find the said boy, all the while wondering where the boy was and why he didn't come into the Kill Ring. Now, it wasn't uncommon for Hiccup to be late, he did it almost every time, but that day was the day Hiccup would kill his first dragon, so it's a surprise when they didn't see the boy get into the Kill Ring in time.

"Calm down, Stoick." A man with a prosthetic arm and leg said to him, "I'm sure Hiccup was just trying to calm his nerve, you know how nervous it be to kill a dragon for the first time in front of a crowd".

The man, Stoick the Vast, sighed heavily, "I know, Gobber." He said as he looked around to see if he could spot his son somewhere, "I just wish he would come and face his nervousness, or ask me for advise, instead of hiding like this".

Stoick had woke up that day filled with pride and excitement, his son would finally become a Viking like him, and he was ready to give his speech to his people about how proud he was of Hiccup. He had noticed that his son wasn't in home when he left for the Kill Ring, but he shrugged it off, thinking that the boy was already waiting in the arena to see the surrounding.

It's a normal thing to inspect the surrounding before a fight against a dragon, so that they could use whatever in there to their advantage, so he didn't think much about it. When everyone, save for the main reason they were in the Kill Ring, arrived in the arena, Stoick couldn't help but feeling mildly annoyed that his son would come late for an important day like that. An hour passed and no sign of his son was enough to get him worried, and so he sent the people out to search for Hiccup, in case the boy managed to get himself into another troublesome situation again.

"You can't blame him." Gobber told him with a pat on his shoulder, "Hiccup was seen as useless in the past that all he received from others were disapproving glare, it must be very nerve wrecking for him to kill a dragon in front of the whole village. Not to mention the people are expecting the best from him, you have to understand that he might be afraid that he couldn't meet the people's expectation and thus receiving the same treatment again".

Stoick sighed again and nodded, "I guess you are right." He said before walking to his house direction, "I will try to see if Hiccup is hiding in his room." He said as he walked away. Even though he said that, Stoick couldn't help but feel something in the air, a feeling that there's something was wrong and he dreaded it. He felt the same thing in the past, about 8 years ago, the day he lost he beloved wife to the dragons.

He really hoped that he wouldn't lose anyone else this time.

Stoick opened the door and marched to his son's room as fast as he could, too bad that he knock things over along the way that he was forced to slow down, else he broke every fragile things in the house. He entered Hiccup's room and suddenly got a chill when he saw that the room was empty, everything was neatly placed and nothing was out of place, that was until he saw a folded paper laying on his son's bed. He walked to the bed and, with slightly trembling hands, he picked the paper up and unfolded it.

To Stoick the Vast,

Chief of Hairy Hooligans Tribe of Berk.

First of all, I want to apologize to you. I'm really sorry if I break your heart when you read this, but please understand that this is for the best for us. If you read this letter, that I would already be very far away from the village. Considering how fast I travel, I would already out of the island by the time you read this, so please take back any searching party that you sent for me. If you had send any, that is.

I have decided to leave the village, for I know that it would be the best decision for my current situation. Again, I apologize if you are saddened by the fact that I left you and the village, but I have my reason for this, one that would make me seen as a traitor. I can understand this, and I accepted it, so I decided to self-exile myself until the time when we can meet face to face once again. If that time comes, you can decide by yourself whether I can live in Berk once again of left for good. The reason is because I **won't** (**not** can't) kill a dragon. I know that you will frown when you read this part, so I will explain it.

Remember the night when I told you that I hit a Night Fury? You didn't believe me, oh well, everyone in the village didn't believe me then, but I must told you that I, in fact, did hit a Night Fury that day. I went to the woods to search for the Night Fury myself later that night, to kill it to prove myself to you that I can be a Dragon Slayer, so the people could finally accept me among them. Too bad for me, it's just like what you said, I'm many things but a Dragon Slayer isn't one of them.

When I found the Night Fury in the woods, being tied and couldn't move due to the bola I shot using my invention, I couldn't find it in myself to kill it. Call me stupid or anything, because I thought that I was stupid that time for doing it, but know that I never regret what I did that time. I never regret it that I decided to free the Night Fury instead of killing it.

If you are paled in fear when you read this, please remember that I'm still alive, so you can get the idea of the dragon killed me instantly out of your head. In Dragon Training, Gobber said to me that dragon always, always go for the kill. I believed so myself in the past, but I couldn't bring myself to believe it any longer, because Toothless (The name of the Night Fury that I gave him. Yeah, I named a Night Fury and call the dragon 'him' instead of an 'it', I couldn't bring myself to call Toothless an 'it' anymore) didn't kill me. Even after I clearly stomped on him in my excitement in the past, and I clearly told him that I would kill it, he spared me and let me go with just a roar (a very loud one in front of my face, my ears were ringing but at least I lived).

Now, you might scoffed at the idea of a dragon understand what we said, but I need to tell you that they really understand what we said, for Toothless had numerous times showed me that he understood what I said to him. Anyway, since I heard Gobber told me that dragons always go for the kill, I couldn't help but wondering why Toothless didn't kill me, and so I went to the woods again to search for him. I thought that he might already fly away, but he didn't.

I saw him in the . . . let's just say a secret place because it's my and Toothless's precious place that I don't want for other people to know. I saw him trying to fly but failed many times, I drew him in my book since no one except for myself ever seen a Night Fury before, and live to tell the tale, that'e when I noticed the reason why he couldn't fly away. When I shot him down, his tail fin had been ripped apart from him, making him unable to fly.

Toothless noticed my presence that day, and he did nothing but stare at me before I left him. The next day, I went to the place again with a fish with me, since I saw him failed to catch fish by himself, too exhausted or still healing from the fall maybe. He was cautious of me at first, even growling when he noticed the dagger I had with me that time, but he relaxed once I kicked the dagger away from me (Crazy, I know, but I gained his trust that way), and he accepted the fish I offered to him.

This is the reason you will call me a traitor, for I befriended a dragon when I should be killing them. Again, I reminded you that I don't regret this decision. It was out of desperation at first, because it's not a secret that I didn't have a friend in the village until I showed a good progress in Dragon Training. I was lonely and desperate for some kind of affection, an acceptance for myself and not some false personality. The only one to accept me for me is Toothless, so I accept my fate as a traitor if it means I will always have him by my side.

A downed dragon is a dead dragon, I didn't want him to die because of me, so I help him to fly again, to defy that saying. Long story short, I created a prosthetic tail fin for him and help him to fly again, and I discovered many things about dragons along the way. The progress I showed in the Dragon Training was nothing but tricks, all of them I learned in my time helping Toothless to fly again, and I tried them out in the Training with the other dragons to see if these tricks would work for the other dragons as well.

After seeing the other side of dragons, the way they acted when they weren't threatened, I couldn't bring myself to kill them. I never could in the first place, and learning about them only strengthen my resolve that I don't have to kill them. This is why I decide to leave and told you about Toothless and the fact that I befriending a dragon, I won't kill a dragon if I can help it, so I left to avoid having to kill the dragon in the Kill Ring.

Once again, I apologize for my action, and I can accept it if you decide to announce me a traitor. I stand for my words that I won't kill a dragon, that I won't let Toothless to be in danger any longer for having to stay in Berk because of me.

That was the first reason I left, the second reason is because I want to find out the reason the dragons keep raiding Berk, I want to stop this war once and for all without having to kill the dragons.

I don't know if you will listen to me or not about this, because you never listen to me anyway, just like I never listen to anyone all this time. I already told you the reason I decided to leave, so I want to suggest a few things along the way.

First, please don't hunt for the Nest anymore. I will find out the reason they raid Berk and solve it, so please stop this meaningless activity. Harsh words, I know, but it's the truth. You keep sending people to search for the Nest, and failed every time, and you will only making it worse. Please just have those people you send for the Nest to stay guard in the village, so that you can protect everyone better with more people on your side.

Last, please don't kill the dragons we have in the arena, I don't want you to regret it when (Yes, when, not if) I stop the war between Vikings and dragons. I don't know how long the time needed for me to accomplice it, but I give you my words that I will stop the war, and so there's no need for those dragons to be killed. Having those dragons become a punching bag for the Trainees is bad enough, I don't want for the dragons to be killed by them, first place or not.

Sincerely,

Hiccup.

Stoick sighed and rubbed his temple when he finished reading the long letter from his son, he felt many emotions when he read it that he got a headache.

He was saddened when he found that his son had decided to leave, even more so when he read the part about self-exile. It broke his heart when he thought about how he already lose his wife, and now he lose his only Son as well.

The next was betrayal, he couldn't believe that his son befriended a dragon, a Night Fury no less. Anger and betrayal. He was angered by the fact that his son would befriend a dragon, the creature who had killed his wife right in front of his eyes. He felt like his son had betrayed him, because they had a deal about how Hiccup would change and stop acting different from Vikings.

But when he read the explanation, he couldn't help but feel ashamed and a bit of understanding. He was ashamed that he never noticed how Hiccup really felt, he always disappointed in his son that he was failed to notice that Hiccup was only want an acceptance. He remembered the night when he told Hiccup how relieved himself that Hiccup didn't become the worst Viking anymore, he winced as he imagine how his badly words hurt Hiccup that particular night. He could understand how desperate Hiccup would be after years of loneliness and longing for acceptance, and the fact that no one in the village ever give him a chance only made it worse. He just didn't understand why his son would seek comfort with their enemy, the most dangerous one at that, the boy could die the second he confront the dragon.

When he read the part when Hiccup told him that he never listen to the boy, he realized that he was, indeed, never listen to what his son said to him. He felt guilty about it, if only he listened more, maybe all of this would never happened. He remembered the day he told Hiccup that he would entered the Dragon Training, Hiccup tried to tell him something, about how he couldn't kill a dragon, but he insisted that Hiccup could and would. He regret it that he didn't listen to his son, and thus forcing the boy to enter Dragon Training and learn how to fight dragons when the boy didn't want to.

The strongest emotion he felt when he read the really long letter was confusion. He was confused about what Hiccup mean by other side of dragons, he thought that dragons were nothing but mindless creatures, but here Hiccup said that they understand what people said to them. One question began filling his head, could it be that the dragons really act different when they didn't feel threatened? If that's so then maybe, just maybe, the dragons really weren't as dangerous as what they thought.

The war with the dragons had gone for too long for their believe to be shaken so easily, but if what Hiccup believed was true, that there's a reason why the dragons keep raiding Berk, they might be able to stop the war without anymore bloodshed. Considering how confident Hiccup was about this matter, something that he rarely showed, his plan might really work this time.

Stoick sighed as he glanced at the letter again, he had never listened to Hiccup, and now he regret it. He sighed again as he closed his eyes briefly, _I will listen to you this time, son._ He thought as he reopened his eyes and head out of the house, _Don't make me regret this decision_.

He went straight to Gobber to tell the man about Hiccup's decision, his best friend was already like a second father for Hiccup, he deserve to know the truth. The same thing couldn't be said about the rest of the village though, so he need to think first before he act this time, or he might raise suspicion.

XXXXX

Astrid couldn't help but thought that Stoick hid something from everyone, aside from Gobber since the two were very close with each other, his sudden change in mind about finding the Nest and the change in Dragon Training's graduation ceremony said it all.

Something that frustrated her was the fact that only her noticed that Stoick hiding something, the rest of the Tribe didn't even think that something was up with the Chief. It's not a secret that Stoick was obsessed in finding the Nest, to suddenly said that he lost interest was absurd, something clearly change the Chief's mind about it. Stoick also said that he didn't want for the Trainees to get stressed having to kill a dragon in the Kill Ring, under the expectation of the people, but it's a common knowledge that the Trainees were excited about it, aside from Hiccup of course. Yet none of the others finding it strange.

Speaking of Hiccup though, Astrid was reminded about the book she found in the cove, the book that was currently in her hands. She didn't tell Stoick about how she saw Hiccup flew away on a dragon's back, something in her mind telling her that it would be best to keep her knowledge about how Hiccup left a secret, and she guessed that Stoick already knew that Hiccup had ran away. She had seen the man looking longingly at a paper when no one was watching, maybe Hiccup wrote something to him before he left with the dragon. She was also curious about the content of the book, after witnessing Hiccup flew away on the back of a dragon make her thought that maybe she could do the same, it would be a great if they could get the dragons to fight alongside them instead of against them.

"Let's see what he wrote in here." Astrid said to herself as she flipped the cover and the first page over to enter the first chapter.

How to Train Your Dragon

Chapter 1

Everything is based on Trust.

Before you can train a dragon, the first thing you should do is gain their trust. A relationship between a dragon and a person is based on trust, mutual trust, mind you. The stronger the trust you have for each other, the stronger your bond will be.

A dragon normally wouldn't attack unless they feel threatened, so the first step to gain a dragon's trust is to show them that you won't harm them. Approach a dragon without carrying a weapon, it the easier way to show them that you won't attack them, they would feel less threatened if you don't carry a weapon around them before you gain their trust.

After you showed them that you don't have any weapon, you need to show them that you trust them. You need to get the dragon to calm down first before trying to show them that you trust them, try talking softly to them. Dragons are intelligent creatures, they understand what you are saying to them, so you can calm them down with words and soft tone. Dragons can also feel your emotion, so it would be useless to calm a dragon if you feel agitated yourself. Then, once you get the dragon to calm, show them that you trust them. The easier way to show them that you trust them is to look at the ground and raise your hand to the front of their shout, it's a gesture that telling them that you trust them to not bite your hand off. You need to be calm and confident when approaching a dragon (confident, not arrogance), since the dragon wouldn't believe that you trust them if they feel fear from you. Once the dragon understand that you won't harm them and trust them, they will show you that they trust you not to harm them by touching your hand with their snout.

Note : You need two people to approach a Hideous Zippleback, since two heads mean two riders.

Astrid raised an eyebrow when she finished reading, she would never thought that the content would be like that, she thought that training a dragon was to dominate them. "Trust, huh?" She mumbled as she closed the book, she need to head home before her parents get home, they liked to asking questions if she come home late.

She stood up and began walking to her home, her mind wandering about how Hiccup wrote that dragons understand what humans said to them. If that was true, then they weren't mindless creatures like what they believed. If Hiccup was right, she couldn't help but wondering how much of their knowledge about dragons that was wrong?

XXXXX

"What do you think about this spot, Toothless?" Hiccup asked his dragon companion as he looked around the clearing they found in the forest.

They had arrived in the island at night and went right to sleep due to exhaustion, with Hiccup being covered by one of the dragon's wings. After they woke up, Hiccup fished their breakfast before they began exploring the island where they would live on. They had found a small lake and saw some boars, meaning they wouldn't need to worry about clean water and he can hunt the boars for their pelt to be traded, then they found a big clearing, a good place for them to sleep.

Toothless looked around before shot him with his toothless smile, "We only need to find a stone slab for you to sleep on, and built something like a roof for when it's rain." Hiccup said with a smile as well. He had once sleep in the cove with Toothless in the past, and he found it quite comfy. So he thought that it wouldn't matter if he didn't have a house, he can sleep anywhere as long as he had his dragon with him, and certainly Toothless didn't mind it one bit that he sleep leaning on him and covered by his wing.

"Oh, right." Hiccup said to himself as he remembered about his self appointed mission, he looked at Toothless and found the dragon looking at him curiously, "Toothless, I was wondering about why the dragon raids Berk." He explained as he sat across his dragon, "Is there a reason behind all those raids?" Toothless nodded at him, "Do you think you can tell me what it is?".

Toothless's eyes widened a bit in surprise before he motioned to his saddle, "You will show me?" Hiccup guessed, the dragon nodded in answer, "Alright." He stood up and climbed onto the saddle and secured himself before patting Toothless at the side of his neck, "I'm ready." He announced.

Toothless shot up to the sky and Hiccup adjusted the prosthetic tail fin according to the dragon's lead, their flight was a quiet one since Hiccup can felt how tense his dragon was, he could only guess that the reason behind the dragon raids was a serious one.

It wasn't long before Hiccup noticed that they were heading for the Helheim's Gate, the thick fog was the clear give away about their location, and Hiccup noticed that there's so many dragons around them. He gulped and lay down on Toothless's back, he could do nothing but trusting his friend to know what he was doing.

Hiccup gasped when he saw an island with a volcano ahead of them, all of the dragons seemed to be heading for the volcano carrying their kill. Toothless silently following the rest and immediately hid in a cave where they can see what's going on but couldn't be seen by the others, Hiccup watched as one by one the dragons dropped their kill into a big hole, he frowned in confusion. "What's going on?" He whispered as he watched what was happening.

Toothless growled softly while moving his head to a Gronckle, as if telling him to stay quiet and watch, that had just dropping a small fish into the hole. Hiccup's eyes widened when he heard a loud growl, he noticed that the other dragons in there were cowering in fear. He saw the reason not a second later as a huge, really huge, dragon head emerged from the hole and swallowed the Gronckle in one go.

"What in Odin's name is that?" Hiccup hissed in fear, and he was panicked when the huge dragon sniffed the air before looking at their direction, "Alright, bud, we need to get out." He said urgently.

Toothless didn't need to be told twice, he flew as fast as he could away from the volcano, barely missing the huge thing's jaw snapping on them, with the other dragons also flying away to cover for them.

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To be continued . . .

* * *

Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

_**Dangerous Tone**_

The second they arrived back at the clearing, Hiccup slid off Toothless's back and laid on the ground, he need to calm his nerve. Toothless crooned softly to him and curled around him, nudging Hiccup's shoulder with his snout. "I'm alright, buddy." Hiccup said after he calmed down, "Just need time to calm down, don't worry." He explained before sitting up to look at his dragon, "That thing, was that your Queen?" He asked seriously.

Toothless growled in anger and shook his head.

Hiccup gulped, "Alright, let me guess what happened." He started, "From what I saw, I guess that thing, let's just call it Red Death for now, invaded your home and forced you to raid Berk? And that thing will eat the dragons if they didn't feed it?".

Toothless nodded and laid his head on the ground with a sad rumble, Hiccup scratched the dragon's head as he thought about the situation at hand. "If I want to stop the war between Vikings and dragons, the best way to start is to kill the Red Death, then show the Vikings that they don't have to kill the dragons." He said thoughtfully before looking at the sky, "Oh man, it's not as easy as I thought . . ." He then looked at Toothless and smiled, "But I know that I can do it with you by my side, buddy".

Toothless nudged his chest and let out a contented rumble, showing Hiccup that he was thinking the same.

XXXXX

Astrid was walking through the woods to read Hiccup's book again when she heard it, a pained whimper of an injured animal. She stopped walking and looked around before she saw it, not far from her was a bluish green Terrible Terror, and one of the tiny dragon's wings was bending in a strange angle.

The Terror saw her and whimpered again, but this time it sounded like the dragon was scared, not to mention that the tiny dragon was staring at her with fear filled eyes. It was then that Astrid know that dragons wasn't brainless creatures, the Terror clearly understood that she was a Viking, and Vikings normally killing dragons. It's clear that dragons can feel emotion too, not heartless like what they believed.

_Hiccup is right about dragons are intelligent creature . . ._ Astrid thought in realization, _Well, let's see if the dragons really won't attack unless feel threatened_. She took a step forward and the dragon whimpered again, she then remembered that Hiccup wrote about gaining the dragon's trust. _Okay, let's try it_. She thought decisively.

Astrid carefully laid her double-edged axe on the ground and raised her hands to the creature, "Calm down." She said in the most soothing voice she could make, it's a bit hard considering that she was raised to be a fierce warrior, "I don't have a weapon, see?" She asked as she slowly walking to the creature, and she was surprised that the dragon didn't whimper again, and the fear was replaced by caution.

She walked slowly to the dragon until she arrived in front of the branch where the dragon stood at, "It's okay." She said again, "I won't hurt you." She promised and raised her hand, the dragon moved it's head back a bit as if avoiding her hand. _'Look at the ground and raise your hand', right_. She thought before looking down at the ground and slowly rising her hand to where she thought the dragon's snout would be, she closed her eyes as she wait.

Half a minute passed and Astrid was wondering if what Hiccup wrote about dragons were wrong after all, but then she felt it, something scaly and warm touched her palm. She looked up in surprise to see the tiny dragon touched it's snout on her palm with it's eyes closed, she couldn't help but smiled. "That's right." She said softly, "I won't hurt you." She then raised her other hand, "Come here." She coaxed softly, "Let me look at your wound, maybe I can help you".

The tiny dragon opened it's eyes and looked at her for a few seconds before leaning to her hands, Astrid picked it up as gentle as she could then sat on the ground after making sure no one was around. She inspected the wound on the dragon's right wing and found that it's bone was broken, "Hmm." She hummed as she looked around, "Well, little dragon, I can help you with your wing, but I can't do it in here and right now." She said before looking at the dragon, "How about this, I will bring you to a place where you can rest first, I need to go home and get something for your wing then come back to you to treat your broken wing." She told the dragon and waited for some kind of response, she got her answer when the dragon nodded it's head, surprising her since she didn't know that a dragon could nod.

"Alright." She said and stood up, being careful about the dragon in her hands. She walked to her axe and picked it up before heading for the cove where she saw Hiccup with the Night Fury before, she felt like she was intruding Hiccup's privacy by entering the cove, but she thought that the cove would be the perfect place to hide the injured dragon. She looked around for a good place for the dragon before an idea entered her head, she picked up the bucket that was laying there, possibly the one Hiccup used to feed his dragon, and went to behind the rock. "Wait here a moment." She said as she gently placed the dragon on some place away from the rocks, she went back to the rocks.

Astrid arranged the bucket and the rocks until they formed a small cave with the bucket as the roof, she smirked as she satisfied with her work before she went to the tiny dragon who crooned curiously at her. "I made something for you." She said as she picked the dragon again and brought it to the small cave, "If you stay here, no one aside from me can find you." She explained slowly to make sure the tiny creature would understand perfectly, "I don't know how long it would take for your wing to heal, but this way, you can have a safe place to stay".

She lowered the dragon to the ground and watched as the dragon looked at the small cave before curling up on the ground, the dragon then looked at her from it's spot, as if saying that it would wait there. Astrid smiled in wonder, the dragon was more intelligent then she had first thought, "Alright." She said as she stood up, "Wait here. I will try to get back as soon as I can".

The dragon squawked at her in answer.

Astrid nodded before running out of the cove, she ran out of the forest as fast as she could before slowing down and walking casually to her home. _Huh?_ She blinked when a random thought entered her mind as she entered her room, _I guess this must be how Hiccup felt when he befriended his dragon_. She mused silently to herself as she finally registered what kind of feeling that she was feeling the whole time she was interacted with the Terrible Terror.

She felt excited and anxious. The knowledge that only her in the whole village - not including Hiccup of course, since he already left - who could get close with a dragon without getting attacked made her excited. She also know what most people didn't know, again aside from Hiccup, making her felt even more excited. Although, the knowledge that she befriended a dragon make her anxious, if the people know, they would surely branded her as traitor.

She bet that Hiccup felt like this too before he ran away, possibly to protect his dragon and avoiding having to kill a dragon. If in the past she would mock Hiccup for that, she now could understand. Even after only a few minutes interracting with her tiny dragon, she had lose her desire to kill a dragon. It's impossible to think about killing a dragon after knowing that they can be a gentle creature with the right handling, just like what she saw in her tiny dragon.

Right, the Terrible Terror would be her dragon, just like how the Night Fury was Hiccup's dragon. She would make sure no one touch her dragon, she would protect her dragon friend. Even so, she couldn't help but wondering if she could befriend a dragon that could help her fly, just like how the Night Fury help Hiccup fly by letting Hiccup onto it's back on a saddle. _Alright then_, she decided to herself, _I will try to get close with one of the dragons in the arena, I will try with the Nadder since it's more beautiful than other type of dragons in the arena_.

Astrid quickly went to retrieve a roll of bandage, she then remember that she need to get food for the Terrible Terror, but she didn't know what a dragon like to eat. That's when she remembered Hiccup's book, the manual of how to train a dragon, she opened the book and going right to the chapter for dragon's food, fortunately it's right in chapter two.

Chapter 2

A happy dragon is the best.

You already gain your dragon's trust and could touch them, it would be best not to upset them after all that. If you want to feed your dragon, they like fishes, so you can give them fishes. If your dragon is big, they need more fishes than the smaller dragon. Another food like boars and so on is also good, but they prefer fishes more, even more so if the fishes are a fresh catch.

DON'T give them EELS! If you give your dragon an eel, they would backed away from it and – or roaring to you until the eel got very far away from them. Better safe than sorry, so don't give them eels.

Dragons like to get scratched. You want for your dragon to be happy, just give them a nice scratch. You need to be careful though, some spots would be their favorite spot for you to scratch them, but one particular spot below their chin might be too good for them that they get knocked out. If you want to find this particular spot, better not do it when your dragon is above you, you will get pinned underneath them then.

A happy dragon is easier to be trained than an upset one, and certainly they would listen to you more if you keep them happy. So in order to not make your dragon upset, don't give them eels and DON'T treat them like a mere PETS.

Dragons are prideful creature, to treat them like pets would be an insult for them. Dragons are your COMPANIONS, your PARTNERS, your FRIENDS, so treat them like one and they would be happy with you around them.

Note : Terrible Terrors love attentions, pay attention to them and they would be happy, but too much attention and excitement would make your hands full with a hyper tiny dragon.

_Terrible Terrors love attention? That's new_. Astrid thought as she closed the book and head out for the kitchen, she took a few fishes her family had and put them into a small bag, it wouldn't do to have people wondering what she was doing with raw fishes in the woods. _I wonder what is it about this particular spot?_ She asked herself before a memory of one event in the Dragon Training was brought to the surface.

_Astrid was getting ready to hit a Deadly Nadder with the side of her axe when a hand scratched below the chin of the Nadder, the Nadder fell to the ground and Hiccup come to her view. Hiccup shot her with a sheepish yet nervous smile while shrugging._

Astrid blinked at the memory, _I guess, it's what Hiccup mean in his book by feeling too good until getting knocked out_. She mused as she walked to the woods, _Now that I think about it, Hiccup never try to hurt the dragons in the arena, he only got them into their cages without having to hurt them_.

Astrid was already deep in the woods when she remembered something important, she need some board to help the little dragon with it's broken wing. She looked around and saw a fallen tree nearby, but then she was surprised when she saw that this part of the woods was damaged, and a few black scales caught her attention.

_[Okay, but I hit a Night Fury]_

That was what Hiccup said the night before he joined Dragon Training. _If what Hiccup said was true that night, then the black scales lying around nearby would be that of the Night Fury's_. Astrid thought as she looked at the scales, _He also mentioned Raven's point, and this area is Raven's point_, she looked around at the many of broken or fallen trees, _Wow, Hiccup really did hit a Night Fury that night_.

She shook her head to clear her mind and focus on the matter at hand, she went to one of the fallen trees and break them apart with her axe, she then work on them until she got two boards with the same size and thickness. _These will do_, she decided before began running to the cove, she went into the cove and ran to the rock right away, she slowed to a walk when she near the rock before stopping in front of her hand made cave. "Hello, little guy." She greeted her dragon, but was surprised when the dragon squawked indignantly at her, she blinked, "Um, are you a girl then?" She asked, the dragon nodded in answer.

"Alright then, little girl." She said as she pulled out the bag with fishes and put it on the ground, "I brought you some fishes, but you can only eat them after I finish fixing your wing." She told the dragon, who whined in protest, "Think about it as a reward for hard work, because in order for me to help your wing to heal, I need to get it into the right position, and it would hurt when I move your wing. If you can wait patiently and endure the pain when I work on your broken wing, you can have the fishes as your reward, and I will get you more fishes tomorrow." She bargained, "How about it?".

Her dragon let out a breath that was similar to a sigh, making her smiled in amusement, who knows that a dragon can sigh? Okay, Hiccup might know about it since he seemed to know more about dragons than the rest of Berk, judging by what he wrote on his book.

Astrid smiled at her dragon before began working, she get the broken wing into it's right position and pinned it with the two boards before securing them by wrapping them with bandages, all the while ignoring the whimpers and whines from her little dragon. "There, it would be best not to move your broken wing too much, it will heal faster that way." She said happily, satisfied with her work.

Her dragon looked at her wing before shot Astrid with pleading look, Astrid chuckled, "Alright." She said as she let the fishes out of the bag in front of her dragon, "They are for you, I will bring a more fresher fishes tomorrow." She promised, "Now, you need a name . . ." She looked thoughtfully at the Terror who was looking at her with curiosity. She smiled, "Rivera." She said softly, "Your name is Rivera, your scale's color shining like the flow of a river, the 'a' in the end to make it sound more feminine".

Rivera crooned happily at her in response, happy to have her own name.

Astrid chuckled, "You are so cute, Rivera." She said happily as she gently scratched the dragon's head, earning a content purr in response.

Astrid was grateful that she never killed a dragon before, or she might really regret it heavily now.

XXXXX

"Stoick, are you in there?" Gobber asked as he knocked the door to the Chief's home.

The door opened not long after to reveal a depressed Stoick, "Come in, Gobber." He said as he opened the door more to let his friend in.

"Ah, no, I'm not coming in, not now." Gobber answered with a grin, "Come with me, my friend, I'm sure you will feel better after this".

Stoick shot Gobber a look that saying 'I don't think so', "The only thing that could make me feel better is if my son come home." He answered gloomily, but coming out of the house nonetheless, he walked side by side with Gobber to wherever Gobber want him to go.

"Ah, but I do think that you will feel better." Gobber insisted as he led the way to the forge, "I had just found out something interesting in Hiccup's workspace." He explained as he opened the door to the room where Hiccup would work on his personal projects, "Look at them." He said as he gestured one of the wall with his hand.

Stoick looked at the wall and his eyes widened when he saw the drawing of a beautiful woman with brown hair and hazel eyes, "Valka . . ." He murmured as he gazed at the drawing that captured the brightest smile of his wife in perfection.

"Ah, yes, there's many drawing of her and your family as a whole." Gobber said with a soft smile, "But that's not why I show you this room, look at the ones in the right side of the wall." He instructed patiently.

Stoick dragged his eyes away from the drawing of his wife, reluctantly of course, to the direction mentioned by his friend, his eyes widened even more when he saw many drawings of a black colored dragon. On one of them, it showed the dragon looking up at him with curiosity in it's eyes, it's left tail fin wasn't there. "This dragon is . . . ." He trailed off as he lost of words.

"The Night Fury." Gobber answered him, "The one your son called as Toothless in his letter, considering this one has one of it's tail fins ripped apart".

Stoick looked at the drawing in awe, he didn't know that his son had such a talent with his hands, "So this dragon is Night Fury . . ." He breathed in awe, he then looked at the one showing the playful side of the dragon, "For the most feared by Vikings, it doesn't look that fearsome." He commented, "In this one, the dragon even looks like it is smiling".

"I agree, I didn't know that a dragon can smile like that." Gobber said with a chuckle, "From the look of it, the Night Fury also smaller than a Monstrous Nightmare, just look at the one with Hiccup sitting beside the dragon".

Stoick searched for the one Gobber told him and raised an eyebrow, "It's even smaller than a Nadder!" He exclaimed in shock, "Is this the dragon that got all Vikings to get down whenever it's screech being heard? How small . . .".

"Small but vicious when it want to be." Gobber agreed, "Kind of like your son, eh?".

Stoick frowned, "I don't think Hiccup can be vicious." He said in confusion.

"Oh, you certainly didn't know about Hiccup's reaction whenever he heard Valka's name being mocked by the kids in the past." Gobber said with a chuckle, "Even though he was small, he managed to get some hit into count, all of those kids were having black eyes after the fight".

"He really hit them?" Stoick asked in surprise.

"Yes." Gobber nodded in confirmation, "I believe that it happened when you went out to search for the Nest. I think that with enough training and the right method of teaching, Hiccup can be a fierce fighter that can rival Astrid".

"He would make a good Chief." Stoick said sadly, "But he went and self-exiled himself".

" '. . . so I decided to self-exile myself until the time when we can meet face to face once again. If that time comes, you can decide by yourself whether I can live in Berk once again of left for good.' " Gobber quoted, gaining the Chief's attention to him, "By telling you that, he places his hope in you." He said softly as he look at his friend, "He's hoping that once he stopped the war between Vikings and dragons, he will come back here and meet you again. He hope to have a talk with you, so you can decide whether he can live in Berk with his dragon or not".

Stoick's face fell, "But the others wouldn't let him stay here, they will call him traitor and banish him from the village." He said gloomily.

"You forgetting the part of 'once he stopped the war'." Gobber reminded him, "If the war had stopped, there's no reason for the people to not let him stay if his dragon wouldn't harm them." He explained before grinning wildly, "Some of the people might ask his help to get themselves a dragon pet as well, I know that I will ask him that".

Stoick's eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened in surprise, "You will?" He asked in disbelief.

Gobber nodded, "Yes." He said confidently, "I mean, wouldn't it be a great thing if we can fly on dragon's back? And the dragons can aid us in times of war as well, fighting alongside us instead of against us".

Stoick ran his hand along his beard as he thought about that possibility, "If you put it that way . . ." He nodded his head in agreement, "Yes, having dragons on our side would be a great help." He looked at Gobber with a small smile, "I bet that if the war did stop, and Hiccup showed up on a dragon's back, those teenagers would want for him to get them a dragon for themselves as well".

Gobber's wild grin grew bigger if that's possible, "You might want a dragon yourself, Stoick." He said with a chuckle, "Wouldn't want to lose to the kids, would you?".

Stoick chuckled, "Let's just see when the time comes." He said as he looked at the drawings of the Night Fury once again, "If the most feared Night Fury can be playful when it isn't threatened, the rest of the dragons might be not as dangerous as we think they are".

"That's the spirit!" Gobber said cheerfully, "Now, rather than doing nothing, why don't we try and find out where Hiccup ran off to?" He suggested, "We might be able to help him with stopping this war and get him return to us sooner!".

Stoick's face brightened, "That's a good idea, Gobber!" He said in high spirit, "Let's talk in my house, we can discuss where to search for him first!".

"Yeah, let's!" Gobber said in the same high spirit before they went to Stoick's house together.

Stoick vowed that he would do his best to find his son again, and help him in stopping the war instead of stubbornly searching for the Nest, as Hiccup put it.

LINE~LINE~LINE

To be continued . . .

LINE~LINE~LINE

Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

_**Dangerous Tone**_

Astrid was reading Hiccup's book in the cove while running her left hand on Rivera's back, she woke up early that day to spend time with her Terrible Terror and reading the book. Her curiosity gotten the better of her, she want to know what else that Hiccup know about dragons that was the opposite to what was written on the Dragon Manual they had for Dragon Training. So far, she had read the part about how dragons could get distracted by a beam of light, she found out about Dragon Nip, and now she was reading the part about flying lesson.

When you fly with your dragon, it would be best to let your dragon take the lead. Don't try to force any maneuver until you are used with your dragon's movement and their way of flying, you need to trust them to handle the flying until you can connect better with them and your bond with them grow stronger. That's all I can tell you though, you can only understand it when you experience flying with your dragon by yourself. 'Learning on the job' is the best way to learn to fly with your dragon.

Note : It would be best flying with a saddle on, or else you would get easily thrown off from your dragon's back.

She sighed as she closed the book, she didn't find anything else after that chapter, maybe Hiccup didn't get the chance to finish the book or something. "I really want to experience flying on a dragon's back." She said to no one as she looked up at the sky, "I wonder how the clouds feel like".

She felt a movement under her hand, reminding her of her tiny dragon, she looked down to see Rivera had just woken up from her nap. "How is you nap?" She asked her dragon with a smile on her face.

Rivera let out a happy purr and nuzzled her snout into Astrid's chest, letting the Viking girl know that her nap was a nice one.

"Well, Rivera." Astrid said as she stood up and brushed her skirt, "I need to go now, before I late for Dragon Training." She explained, "Now, I already told you that we need to fight dragons in here, but I promise that I will try to not harming the dragons." She smiled at her dragon, "I think I will quit Dragon Training once today's training over though, I don't want to kill dragons anymore." Rivera warbled happily at her, "And yes, we can spend more time together once I quit training." That statement earning her a long happy chatter from her dragon, she didn't have to understand what her dragon was trying to tell her to know that the tiny dragon was excited and happy about her decision.

"Alright." She scratched her dragon's head for a bit, "I will see you later, my little dragon".

Astrid left the cove and ran to the arena's direction, aside from she want to get to the arena sooner, running in the woods can be used as a training to make her reflex sharper and to increase her agility.

"Ah, nice to have you join us, Astrid." Gobber greeted her once she arrived.

Astrid nodded in greetings at the man, "Yes." She said simply before looking around for the other kids.

"You are the first to arrive." Gobber told her before she could ask.

"I see." She answered before looking at her mentor, "Gobber, can we talk after today's lesson ended?".

Gobber looked at her in confusion, "Sure." He answered simply.

The other kids arrived not long after, then after Snotlout tried to flirt with Astrid and was answered with a punch in the face, the training started with the same order as the previous one with the one when Hiccup was still in the Training with them. Astrid did her best to avoid the blast from the Gronckle, trying to exhaust the dragon's limit shot before trying anything else. She didn't have to try as hard as she thought, however, since the dragon used 4 of it's shot limit by getting Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs out of the arena before it focused on her.

Astrid managed to evade the last two shot before showing the dragon the eel she hid behind her vest, she smirked when she saw how scared the Gronckle after noticing the eel. "Get back to your cage or I will throw this eel at you." She said as she advanced to the dragon. Needless to say, the dragon flew as fast as it could back to it's cage, much to the shock of the others.

"Astrid, that's so cool!" Snotlout exclaimed to her, no doubt he was trying to win the blonde Viking over again, "How do you know that dragon hate eels?".

"Yeah, tell us!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut exclaimed in excitement.

Astrid smirked at them, "Well, it's just something that I learn from Hiccup, really." She told them casually, "I noticed that he hid an eel when he foced the Zippleback back into it's cage in the past, so I decided to try it".

"Well, it seems that dragons hate eels." Gobber said in thought, "Do you think they would still try to steal the sheep if we placed eels near the sheeps?" He asked out loud without really looking at them.

"We could try!" Ruffnut exclaimed excitedly.

"If it's a success, we don't have to worry about losing sheeps anymore!" Tuffnut joined her, it's rare that the twins would agreed with each other outside from causing destruction.

"But if it fail, the dragon would likely shoot the eels." Astrid warned them.

"I will tell the farmer about it then, but with a plan to fight the fire soon in case the dragons really would burn the eels." Gobber said in decision, "Now, the training is end, go back home and train by yourselves." He told the Trainees. The kids, aside from Astrid, went out of the arena while chatting to themselves. "So, what is it you want to talk to me about?" He asked the girl.

"Two things, actually." Astrid said with a sigh, "I want to quit Dragon Training." She started, waiting for the man's reaction to her statement.

"Why?" Gobber asked in confusion, "I mean, you are the best Trainee after Hiccup".

She actually didn't have a reason about why she want to quit, but hearing Gobber mention that Hiccup once bested her gave her an idea. "Well, it's because Hiccup isn't here." She started softly, "I don't feel motivated enough to continue Dragon Training without Hiccup, I mean, I always thought of him as my rival. With him disappear like this, I don't know, but I lose my interest in fighting".

Gobber looked at her in sympathy, "Well, I think you need to talk with your parents first." He advised, "If they agree to let you quit, then you are free to quit".

"Thank you, Gobber." Astrid answered with a smile.

"Now, what is the second reason?" Gobber asked to the point.

"Well, do you think you can take me as your apprentice?" Astrid asked curiously. Hiccup mentioned a saddle for the dragons, so she might be able to learn how to make one by herself if she learn from Gobber. "I know that it's hard for you after Hiccup disappear, I want to help out while learning how to make a weapon myself." She explained with the best reason she had.

Gobber raised an eyebrow but grinned at her, "You are welcome to learn from me." He said cheerfully, "But I warn you, becoming a blacksmith isn't an easy task!".

Astrid smirk, "I won't turn down such a challenge." She said confidently, "Well then, I will go home and talk with my parents now. See you!" She nodded at the man before running out of the arena.

XXXXX

"What? Astrid?" Stoick asked as he walked into the dining room with two plates for their dinner, "She want to quit?".

"Yes, I said that." Gobber answered as he took one of the plates and sat down to eat, "Not only that, she threatened to throw an eel at the Gronckle if the dragon wouldn't go back to it's cage, and the Gronckle flew back to it's cage as soon as she said that. The kids were amazed that she know that dragons hate eels, but Astrid said that she learned that from Hiccup, from watching him in the past".

"I think Hiccup found out about the eel problem when he was helping his dragon." Stoick said thoughtfully, "I wonder what other things he found out about dragons?".

"I don't know." Gobber answered before grinning, "But we can use this information for our advantage, I already told the farmers to put eels near the sheeps in the next raid." Stoick raised an eyebrow at that, "If dragons hate eels, until they run away from the sight of eels, they wouldn't dare to go near the sheeps if there are eels nearby, don't you think?".

"I guess." Stoick said in agreement, "So, where should we send the search party?" He asked before taking a bite of his grilled fish.

"Hiccup is a smart boy." Gobber started thoughtfully, "He wouldn't go to the nearby islands, I would suggest to search from the furthest islands, but then Hiccup might already guess we would do it . . ." He bit down his fish, "It would be best if we search from the middle range, start with the islands without any village in there that aren't too far nor too close to Berk".

XXXXX

When the night came, Astrid sneaked out of the house as quietly as she could, with a small bucket filled with fishes in one hand and some of the Dragon Nip in her other hand, in case the dragon she want to bond with was in bad mood.

Sneaking into the arena was an easy task in her opinion, because there wasn't a single Viking guarding the arena, why would they guard an arena filled with dragons anyway? No one was ever trying to do what Astrid was about to do, so it's easy for her to sneak in. The only thing she need to be careful about was the two people on patrol duty, one on the watch tower and the other walking around the village. It's easy to go undetected by the one in the watch tower, and if she paid attention to her surrounding, the one walking around the village wasn't a problem either, she just need to make sure she didn't make a loud noise that would draw their attention to her.

Astrid finally arrived in the training arena, she put her bucket on the ground beside the cage with the Deadly Nadder inside. "I hope this work." She whispered to herself before lowering the lever to open the cage.

The Nadder burst out and went straight to the arena, it looked around before relaxing when it didn't see anyone else. Astrid cough softly to get her presence known, from what Hiccup wrote in his book, it would be best to not startle a dragon she want to approach. The Nadder swirled around and saw her, "Hey girl." She said as she raised her hands, she was relieved when the Nadder didn't make a loud noise, that's mean she got the gender right, "Calm down, I don't have a weapon with me".

The Nadder looked at her for a moment before relaxing slightly and looked at her in confusion, she smiled at the dragon, "I'm guessing you recognize me?" Astrid asked softly, trying not to scare the dragon, the dragon nodded at her, "Well, I want to apologize, I was wrong when I try to attack you all this time." She lifted the bucket and walked over to the dragon, who eyed her in caution. She took one of the fishes and lifted it up to the dragon, "For you, why don't we start over with this fish?" She asked hopefully.

The Nadder sniffed her a bit before accepting the fish, Astrid grinned happily at that. She closed her eyes and lifted one hand towards the dragon's head, being careful to avoid it's blind spot, and waited. A few second passed before she felt a gentle nudge on her palm, she opened her eyes to see the Nadder closed her eyes while touching her snout onto Astrid's palm. "Thank you." She said warmly and began scratching the dragon's head for a bit, earning a happy purr from the dragon.

Astrid then tipped the bucket to let the fishes out for the Nadder, "I think I will call you Stormfly." She said cheerfully as she watched the dragon ate happily, the dragon looked up at her and squawked happily, "I get it that you like your new name?" Stormfly squawked again, Astrid smiled, "A beautiful name for a beautiful dragon like you".

Stormfly purred and nuzzled her cheek with her snout, "Well, Stormfly." Astrid began, "After you finish eating, you need to go back to your cage." Stormfly whined at her, "I know you don't like it, but there's nothing I can do for now." She explained softly, "I already quit Dragon Training, so I won't be one of the Trainees you will be facing tomorrow. Even so, I can't get you out from here without attracting suspicion to myself." She smiled and pat the dragon's head gently, "But don't worry, I will try to find a way to show the people that dragons aren't dangerous, that we can live in peace with each other, so you won't have to be caged anymore. Please be patient for now, alright?".

Stormfly looked straight at her eyes before nodding and nudging her cheek again, Astrid sighed in contentment, "Alright, girl." She said fondly, "Finish your food, I need to get back home before my parents noticing my absence".

Stormfly squawked and finished the rest of the fishes, Astrid led the dragon back to the cage, "I promise I will get you out of this cage one day." She promised once the dragon entered the cage, "See you tomorrow, Stormfly." The Nadder crooned softly, Astrid smiled and closed the cage.

As Astrid walked back to her home, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she didn't come to the cove that day, the day when she saw Hiccup left on a dragon's back and found the book of how to train a dragon. Her live had changed so much in just a short time after that day, and she was glad of the change, because she now know just how wrong their believe was about the dragons.

XXXXX

"Whoooooo!"

Laughter and roar of excitement rang in the air as Hiccup and Toothless free falling together. Free fall was their favorite activity, aside from how exciting it was, Hiccup always feel refreshed after they free falling like that.

The ocean came into view, Hiccup reached a hand and brought himself to the saddle, Toothless opened his wings and they flew above the sea in high speed, causing the water to part ways before they flew up to the clouds once again.

Once they touch the clouds, 5 other dragons joined them. A Boneknapper, a Changewing, a Deadly Nadder, a Monstrous Nightmare, and a Terrible Terror. Hiccup grinned at them, "Hey guys." He called to the other dragons, "I think it's time we go home." The other dragons roared in agreement and they all changed direction to Hiccup's Island, which he called as Dragoland.

Two months had passed since he ran away from Berk and discover the reason why the dragons were raiding Berk and other villages, he had been freeing the dragons from the Queen's influence and gathering allies since then. It's not an easy task to do considering how strong the Queen's control over the dragons was, but with a dragon who was extremely skilled in stealth and his unique talent in getting into a dragon's good side, he managed.

The first time he tried to break the Queen's influence was when the dragons were on their way to raid the Bog-Burglars. He and Toothless had pulled aside a dark red colored Monstrous Nightmare from the group of dragons into the forest, and in that forest Hiccup dismounted his dragon and approaching the Nightmare with bare hands while reassuring the Nightmare that he meant no harm. The Nightmare warmed up to him soon after he used the Dragon Nip at the dragon and gave her a nice scratch, he had named the Nightmare 'Flarestorm' since the female dragon had a strange liking to fly in the storm and could be very temperamental like a fire sometimes.

Not two days after he brought Flarestorm with him, the night when he found out the Nightmare's strange habit and named the dragon, a heavy storm hit the island, he was lucky that he had found a big cave near the sea cliff of his island before the storm hit. The next day though, he found out that a Changewing had crash landing on his island during the storm, he helped the dragon with her broken leg and feed her. He named the green colored Changewing 'Rainleaf' since the dragon's color was like a leaf and he found the dragon after a rainstorm.

Three weeks after that, during his usual morning flight with Toothless and his two other dragons, Toothless's artificial tail fin got jammed and they crashed onto the Island of Bones, an island full of dragon bones. Flarestorm and Rainleaf immediately landed before crooning at him in concern, soon joined by Toothless who was checking him over, he reassured his dragons that he was alright before got surprised when an angry roar sounded from behind him.

It seems that they had crash landed on top of a pile of bones right in front of a Boneknapper, and it's just his luck that a certain bone that the big dragon wanted to completed it's armor had stuck in his vest. After some time of Toothless pulled him on the run with the Boneknapper on their tail, Hiccup managed to get the bone out from his vest and offered it to the big dragon, he also helped the dragon by putting the bone into the right place. The Boneknapper immediately nuzzling him and followed him to his island, he named the male dragon 'Bonecrusher' on whim.

He had asked Bonecrusher to carry Toothless on his back to the Dragoland since he couldn't fly Toothless due to his tail fin being jammed, he then flew to the nearby village with Rainleaf to fix the tail fin, Rainleaf's ability to camouflage with her surrounding came in handy for this trip. He told Rainleaf to hide in the forest while he went to the village, the village was called Hunterville since the people in there were very skilled in hunting and the best bow makers in the whole archipelago.

He managed to convince them to let him use the forge and trade the materials for the tail fin with a bunch of boar pelts that he collect every time he hunted boars in his island, and after answering questions (which he answered as truthfully as he could without mentioning about dragons) from the Chief - Rugra the Striker, and his daughter - Ruby, who was around his age, they agreed to let him come anytime to trade with them and use the forge.

Two weeks later, he was back at Hunterville and had just finished trading his boar pelts with one of their bows and some arrows when he heard commotion nearby, he went to see what it was and found that Ruby had accidently provoked a Deadly Nadder. Ruby was aiming for a deer, and when the girl shot the arrow, the Nadder suddenly appeared and get hit by the arrow at it's horn instead, so the Nadder went after the girl in anger.

When Hiccup arrived at the scene, he was relieved that the people in Hunterville weren't that used with dragon raid and having difficulty attacking the Nadder. He simply pulled out the Dragon Nip and walked over to the Nadder while ignoring the warning from the villagers, he grabbed the horn on the Nadder's nose with his left hand while pressing the Dragon Nip on the dragon's nostril with his right hand before pulling the now purring dragon away from the village.

An easy task since he didn't have weapon with him, so the dragon didn't get so hostile towards him, and the fact that the villagers stopped shooting at the dragon when he approached it was helping him as well, he thought that maybe the Nadder thought that he was the leader there and stopped them from attacking by his action.

He returned to the village after he managed to get the male Nadder to stay in the forest, he was met with the shocked villagers and quickly left them with his new bow and arrows. By the time the villagers snapped out from their shock and went after Hiccup to question him, he had already on his way to his island with Toothless (his Night Fury wouldn't let him go with Rainleaf again since there's no problem with the tail fin anymore) and the Nadder whom he named 'Skyring', the Nadder was blue in color and had an orange ring on each of his wing.

Earlier that day, Hiccup went to Hunterville again to trade his boar pelts with some leather, he need to make sure that Toothless's tail fin, the saddle, and his flight gear were in perfect condition for the next day. He got himself being swarmed by the villagers who praised him for his action previously, they didn't know how Hiccup could 'dominated' the Nadder so easily, but they were grateful since they were having a hard time fighting the dragon.

Hiccup had finished the reinforced the tail fin, the saddle, and his flight gear and was on his way to the forest, so he told Rugra and Ruby that he was leaving when a boy came running passed them screaming in fear, with an orange Terrible Terror flying after the boy. How the boy got the Terror chasing after him was a mystery to Hiccup, but he didn't care the reason and simply grabbed the Terror with his two hands, one to keep the Terror in place while the other to scratch the tiny dragon's head. He left immediately after that, with his stuffs in his bag, without another word to the villagers.

Toothless wasn't happy that Hiccup brought a Terror with him, but he managed to get Toothless to accept the Terror in their flock. He called the Terror 'Sharpshot' since the male Terror was agile and could flame faster than any other Terrors.

"Alright!" Hiccup announced once they landed on Dragoland, "Let's rest, everyone, we have a big day tomorrow." The dragons crooned their agreement and left to their usual sleeping spot in the clearing, they slept in the clearing since the cave at the cliff was too small for all of them. Hiccup looked at Toothless and smiled, "Good night, buddy." He said as he got in a comfortable position under his dragon's wing, "We need to be in out best shape for tomorrow".

Toothless purred and settled to sleep himself.

Indeed, they need to be in their best shape for the next day, because tomorrow would be the day when the dragons got their freedom, the day when they would kill the Red Death.

LINE~LINE~LINE

To be continued . . .

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Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

_**Dangerous Tone**_

"Okay, let's run this over once again." Hiccup said as they hovered in V formation just outside the fog barrier of Helheim's gate; with Hiccup and Toothless at the front as they were the leaders, Skyring and Flarestorm behind them as they were the most agile after Toothless, and Bonecrusher along with Rainleaf at the back as they were the biggest in the group.

Sharpshot wasn't with them, he got the tiny dragon to send a letter for him to Berk, he wanted to tell Stoick that he had found out the reason why the dragons were raiding Berk and would put it to an end. Hopefully, if his Dad would listen to him, he could convince his Dad to stop killing the dragons.

"We will first shot the volcano, to get the dragons out of it and lure the Red Death out of the volcano." Hiccup started as he looked at his dragon friends, "Skyring and Flarestorm, you are fast and agile, you will help me and Toothless fight the Red Death. Bonecrusher and Rainleaf, you are big and could intimidate the other dragons easily, you will lead the escaping dragons to a nearby woods, away from the humans, get them stay there then come back here to back us up." The dragons roared in agreement, Hiccup nodded, "Let's go then." He said before they entered the barrier of fog.

They flew to the volcano and circled it, Hiccup searched for a weak spot to attack, he found it soon after. "Alright!" He called for his dragon friend's attention, "All of you, shoot that spot." He pointed at the spot he found had a crack, they could destroy it if they attacked it with their fire balls, except for Rainleaf since she sprayed acid not fire.

The dragons fire at the spot, they saw that it began to crack and shot again, the rock wall destroyed under their shots. "Alright, we shot once again and fly away as soon as the first dragon out of there!" Hiccup commanded, they followed the order and shot the volcano again. They didn't have to wait long for the dragons to fly out of the mountain, "Get to the plan!".

Bonecrusher and Rainleaf roared and separated themselves from the group, they roared at the escaping dragons and led them away from the Nest. Hiccup looked at Skyring and Flarestorm, "I need you two to get that thing mad, distract it while I search for it's weakness!" He told them, "As soon as that thing out of the mountain, shot it!" The two dragons roared in understanding, Hiccup nodded at them and motioned for Toothless to fly up so he could observe better.

A few seconds later, they heard the Red Death roared in anger and the mountain broke apart, Skyring and Flarestorm flew from the falling boulders and hovered in place, as soon as the Red Death got out and noticed them, they began shooting at it.

Hiccup and Toothless circled above them and observe the situation, Hiccup was using his knowledge from Dragon Training to find out it's weakness. "Hm, heavily armored skull and tail, definitely made for bashing and crushing, best to stay clear of both, buddy. Small eyes, large nostrils, I think it rely on hearing and smell." He said out loud before something catching his eyes, "That thing has wings." He said to his dragon, "Come on, bud! Let's see if it can fly!".

Toothless twitched his ears to show that he heard Hiccup before turning and diving towards the Red Death, he shot his plasma blast at the thing's head, catching it's attention.

"Skyring, Flarestorm!" Hiccup called at the two dragons, "Get away! We will take it from here!" Knowing that they had reached their shot limit and unable to help anymore, they gave a short roar before flying away. The Red Death then unfurled it's wings and began flapping, "Well, it can fly." Hiccup said calmly before he and Toothless lured the Red Death towards the sea stacks to hopefully slow it down.

For something as big as the Red Death, it was slow, but it's strength was not a joke. So even with Toothless and Hiccup flew through the sea stacks and use them against the Red Death, it simply broke the stacks with it's body and gaining on them.

Hiccup looked around to see if there's anything that he could use before noticing the dark clouds up above, an idea hit him. "Toothless!" He called his best friend, "Time to disappear, bud!" He said before leading them to fly upwards towards the clouds.

As they flew, the Red Death was closing in on them and Hiccup heard it inhaled to shot fire, "Here it comes!" He yelled before Toothless managed to avoid the volume of flame, albeir barely, before disappearing into the clouds a second later. They could hear the angry roar of the Red Death, letting them know where it was, "Aim for the wings, bud." He said to his friend.

Toothless growled in understanding before dive bombing towards the big dragon, he aimed for the wings and shot before flying away again before the Red Death could caught a glimpse of them. This repeated many times before the Red Death lose it and began firing everywere.

"Watch out!" Hiccup yelled as they fly away, the fire gaining fast and caught Toothless's prostetic tail fin, "Okay, times up." He said before looking forward again, "Let's see if this works." He then directed Toothless to a dive, "Come on! Is that the best you can do?!" He taunted the big dragon as they flew passed it, Toothless roarer his own insult, they got the desired result as the Red Death diving after them.

"Stay with me buddy. We're good, just a little bit longer." Hiccup said to his dragon as he noticed Toothless began to grow nervous, he focused on his hearing to the monster behind them, "Hold, Toothless." He said again before hearing what he was waiting for, "Now!".

They turned around and facing the Red Death's mouth, just as the Red Death about to shot at them, Toothless shot his plasma blast into the monster's mouth, causing an explosion inside the monster's body. They burst out from the clouds with the Red Death hot on their tail. It glanced forward and saw the ground rushing up, it opened it's wings to stop the fall, but the punctured, damaged wings couldn't do their job. The Red Death crashed into the ground and exploded.

Hiccup and Toothless couldn't enjoy their victory yet, however, as they need to get away from the approaching fire and avoiding the rest of the Red Death's body, like it's spikes and tail. They managed to avoid the spikes, but just when they were about to avoid the tail, Toothless's prostetic tail fin broke apart. "No." Hiccup gasped in fear as he felt the tail fin went dead, "No!".

Toothless roared in panic and tried to move away but he couldn't, the Red Death's tail hit them and Hiccup got thrown from the saddle. Hiccup felt an intense pain from his left leg and the heat from all around him as he fell towards the sea of flames, the last thing he saw before losing his consciousness was his dragon was diving after him.

XXXXX

Astrid was sewing a saddle for Stormfly in the cove that day, with Rivera perching on her shoulders, when the said dragon focused it's gaze at the sky and suddenly shot up to the air, "Rivera?!" She called out to the dragon, surprised that her dragon would suddenly fly away like that.

Two months had passed and Rivera's wings had long since healed, her tiny dragon was always near her when she came to the cove, and would fly to a higher place when she was away, but this was the first time her dragon flew without giving her a warning like that.

She stood up and squinted her eyes to look at her dragon, she then saw her dragon approaching another Terrible Terror that was flying towards the village, "Rivera!" She called to her dragon, "What's wrong?!" She watched as they crooned to each other like they were talking in their own language, before raising her eyebrows when her dragon and the other Terror flew to her.

The other Terror hovered in front of her while Rivera perched on her shoulders again, "Hello there." Astrid greeted the other dragon as she lifted her arm, the dragon saw her movement and landed on her arm, "Is there something that I can help you with?" She asked in confusion and curiosity.

The Terror squawked at her and showed her it's back, where a strange paper attached to one of the spikes. "A paper?" Astrid picked it up and saw that there's two words on it, 'To Stoick'. "A letter?" She asked to no one, "Who would use a dragon to send a let-" She stopped herself as a certain boy entered her mind, "Hiccup?" She asked as she looked at the dragon, "Is this from Hiccup?" She asked the dragon.

The Terror squawked and nodded it's head, Astrid's eyes widened in surprise, "Wow, Hiccup sent a letter to his own Dad through a dragon . . . wow, just . . . wow." She said to herself in awe, "This mean that Stoick already know that Hiccup befriends a dragon . . ." She then looked at the dragon, "Alright, do you want me to call Stoick here? The one who is supposed to receive this letter?".

The Terror shook it's head, "No?" She asked in confusion, "You want me to take this letter to Stoick then?" The dragon nodded, she blinked, "Okay then, I will give this letter to him." She said with a nod. The Terror cooed at her and nuzzled her hand before flying away, possibly to where Hiccup was.

"To think that Hiccup could train a dragon to send letter . . ." She said with a shake of her head, "He is really something." She looked at the letter once again before looking at Rivera, "Alright, girl. I need to get this letter to Stoick, so see you tomorrow." Her dragon crooned at her and flew to a nearby tree, she smiled at the dragon before turning around and ran towards the Chief's house.

About a week after Hiccup left Berk, Stoick and Gobber had gone to visit the nearby village with a small group of Vikings, they said that they want to try and have an alliance with them, but Astrid had overheard them talking about searching for Hiccup. They returned two weeks after that, only to go again to another village two weeks later, it repeated like that ever since.

Astrid thought that Hiccup got a perfect timing, because Stoick and Gobber had just returned from their newest visit, so she could get this letter to the Chief right away.

"Chief, are you here?" Astrid asked as she knocked on the door to the Chief's house.

She waited for a few seconds before the door opened to reveal Stoick standing with Gobber behind him, "Astrid." He greeted her, "Is there something you need my help with?".

Astrid looked around to make sure no one was nearby before entering the house, "First, Chief." She started as she closed the door, "I had noticed that you and Gobber are hiding something from the village." She looked at them seriously, "I want to know what you are hiding." She figured that since she would give them a letter that was sent through a dragon, they might as well come clear with what they were hiding, things would be less awkward then.

Stoick and Gobber paled, "Uh, what are you talking about?" Stoick asked, feigning confusion.

Astrid sighed and shook her head in amusement, "Like Father like Son." She smirked, "You and Hiccup are really bad in acting casual when hiding something, Chief." She said smugly, satisfied when she saw the Chief grew even more pale, "First about the Nest." She began her reason for accusing them hiding something, "It's not a secret that you were obsessed in finding the Nest and destroy it so the dragons would leave, but then you suddenly said that you lost interest in finding the Nest." She raised an eyebrow at him, "It's absurd, Chief".

"It's not absurd." Stoick argued, "I just get bored in searching for the Nest only to fail every time, not to mention the chance of losing people when we go out to search for the Nest".

" 'We are Vikings, it's an occupational hazard'." Astrid quoted, "It's what you always said to the people." She smirked again, "And second, you said that you don't want for the Trainees to get stressed having to kill a dragon in front of the people, but you forget that the Trainees were all excited in killing dragons in front of everyone. It's not something stressing, Chief, it's something 'Cool' for them".

Astrid crossed her arms as Stoick gaped at her, Gobber even had his eyes widened and froze like a deer caught in the light, "It's because of Hiccup, isn't it?" She guessed, "He told you something that had change your mind".

Stoick sighed as he know that he had lose the argument, "He wrote me a letter." He admitted in defeat, he pulled out a paper from his vest and handed it to Astrid, "This is the letter he wrote for me before he left.

Astrid unfoled the paper and read the letter, she felt bad when she read the part about Hiccup didn't have any friend in the village, but she couldn't help but smile at the end of it. How Hiccup told Stoick to stop searching for the nest and how he left to search for the real reason behind the dragon raids, she found herself admiring the boy for that, and her respect for the boy grew once again.

"Hiccup is a genius." Astrid commented as she finished reading the letter, "To create a prostetic tail fin for a dragon and trained him . . . he is perfect to be a Chief, to be a leader." She folded back the letter and returned it to the Chief, "You must be very proud of him, Chief".

Stoick smiled sadly, "I am." He answered softly but firmly, "But I'm ashamed of myself for not realizing just how great my Son is before he left." He sighed tiredly before looking at her, "So, you now know what we are hiding, are you going to tell everyone about it?".

"No." Astrid shook her head, "It would be best if we tell them after the raid stopped, so they won't have anything against Hiccup anymore." She then pulled the letter from Hiccup out of her small bag and offered it to Stoick, "Cheer up, Chief." She said with a smile, "This letter is from Hiccup, another dragon of his had delivered it for him".

Stoick and Gobber gasped in surprise before Stoick took the letter from her, he ripped the envelope and took the paper inside and unfolded it.

To Stoick the Vast,

Chief of Hairy Hooligans Tribe of Berk.

Dad, I have found out the reason why the dragons kept raiding Berk. They do it not because that want to, but because they have to. They have to raid us in order to feed a really big monster in the Nest, or they would be eaten themselves. By the time you read this letter, I would already engaged in a battle against the monster, which I called as Red Death.

I'm quite confident in my and my dragons ability in defeating the Red Death and kill it, but in case I couldn't come out of this battle alive, I want you and Gobber to know that I love you. You are my Father, even though we aren't that close, and Gobber is like a second Father to me. I love you both, Dad, and tell Gobber for me that I love him too. I had said that I self-exile myself, but I still missed you two, I hope you both are safe and sound.

If I won this battle, the dragons will stop raiding Berk, and the other villages for that matter, so could you please stop killing them? Could you please move pass you hatred of dragons for killing Mom? Could you please release the dragon from the arena? They deserve to be free, it's not right to strip them of their freedom any longer.

They only protected themselves, Dad, just like what we do. Please don't hate them for trying to survive.

I will contact you again in about a month or two, if three months passed and you still don't hear from me, it's safe to assume that I don't survive the battle. If I don't survive, I want to say that I'm sorry for breaking your heart again. Please remember that I will always love you, you are still my Dad no matter what.

Sincerely,

Hiccup.

"No." Stoick shook his head as his hands trembled, "Oh Odin." He closed his eyes as fear filled his heart, "Please protect my Son".

Astrid and Gobber, who also reading the letter with Stoick, also closed their eyes and prayed with all their heart.

_Please be safe, Hiccup._

LINE~LINE~LINE

To be continued . . .

LINE~LINE~LINE

Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

"_Dragon language"_

Letter

**Emphasis**

_**Dangerous Tone**_

Hiccup never fail to frighten Toothless to death.

The first time the boy gave Toothless a fright was during their test flight. The boy was trying to catch something called 'cheat sheet' and accidentally get unhooked from the saddle, and then the boy fell ahead of him, thankfully they managed to get to each other. Their bond was not as strong before, but it still frightened him so much, and after the incident, their bond grew stronger than ever. They were one since then, soul mate, and they would protect each other even at the face of death.

Not long after that, the boy gave him another fright when they encountered Bonecrusher. They crash landed on the Island of Bones right in front of the Boneknapper, how a particular bone that the big dragon wanted could get stuck in Hiccup's coat was beyond him, and they could only run from the Boneknapper until Hiccup could get the bone out of his coat. Even then, the boy gave him another fright when the boy climbed off his back and walked over to the big dragon, he couldn't describe how relieved he was that Hiccup didn't get injured and their problem with Bonecrusher ended in peace.

At the moment, the boy was giving him yet another fright.

Toothless roared in panic when he saw the monster's clubbed tail headed for them, his prosthetic tail fin had ruined and there's no way they could evade the tail. He tried to angle himself so he would take the blunt but failed, he felt it more than hearing it when the tail hit Hiccup's leg and crushed the bone of the boy's left leg. He feared and was concerned that the boy would be in a great pain, but his fear grew ten times stronger when he felt the boy's weight left him.

"_Hiccup!"_ He roared in panic and fear before diving after the boy, flapping his wings in desperation as he tried to catch the boy before the fire engulfed them both. He managed to catch the boy's foot with his teeth and pulled the boy into his paws before he covered the boy's small form with his wings, he closed his eyes to prevent himself getting blind from the fire and prepared himself for a very bad crash landing.

The possibility of him dying from the fall didn't even registered in his mind as the only thought he had was to make sure Hiccup survived the fall, cushioning the boy with his own body so he would be the one receiving the most damage, all he care was Hiccup's safety.

They crashed not long after he covered Hiccup's body with his paws and wings, his strength left him as he felt intense heat and pain from the crash, but he refused to move and risked the boy's safety, even after he lost his consciousness. He didn't know how long he was there, engulfed in a sea of flame, but he woke up to the panicked roars calling his name from around him and gentle nudge to his body.

He opened his eyes and met the sight of the other four dragons, all of them looking down at him with concern and panic.

"_Are you okay?"_

"_What happened?"_

"_Did you hurt somewhere?"_

"_Where's Hiccup?"_

All of them asking at the same time, causing a headache to form. _"One by one, guys."_ He complained to them, _"I'm alright, the fall only make me sore all over, nothing too dangerous. Don't worry about me, I will tell you later what had happened, and Hiccup is here."_ He answered all of their question in one go as he moved his wings to reveal the boy in his embrace.

They all looked relieved before Rainleaf, the mother hen she was, probed onto Hiccup's unconscious form to check if the boy was injured. _"Oh no."_ She let out a worried whine that caught their attention, she looked at all of them before pointed at Hiccup's left leg with her muzzle, they looked at the direction and their eyes widened in horror. The boy's leg was in an unnatural angle and was covered in blood, from the look of it, the boy was still bleeding and fast.

Dragons were intelligent beings, it's a well known fact to all other intelligent beings except Vikings, so they know what would happen if they didn't stop the bleeding and brought the boy to a place where his injury could be treated best. They know that they had to somehow stop the bleeding and brought the boy to the village they visited often, the problem was how would they stopped the boy's bleeding?

They often saw how humans tied something above an injured part of a body to stop a bleeding, but they didn't have anything to tie around the boy's leg, and even if they have it, they didn't have human's hands to do the job. They all looked at each other in worry before Toothless caught a sight of Rainleaf's vine-like appendage, _"Rainleaf."_ He called to the Changewing's attention, _"Use it"_ He then sent a mental image to her.

Dragons understand human language but couldn't speak them, they could only speak their own language. They also communicate with each other using body gestures, the tone they let out like growl, purr, and so on, along with mental images they sent to their fellow dragons. The dragons was sometimes frustrated when they couldn't talk with Hiccup, but thankfully Hiccup was a smart boy, he could understand them by the gestures they made and the tone they let out, they didn't know if the boy could receive mental images from them or not, simply because they haven't try it yet. If Hiccup could receive the mental images though, that would make their communication easier with the boy.

Rainleaf perked at the metal image and got the message clearly, to use her vine-like appendage to wrap the boy's leg to stop the bleeding until they got to the village. She immediately did as Toothless told her and wrapped her 'vine' tightly around the boy's leg, a bit above the injury, while making sure that she didn't do it too tightly in case she broke the boy's bone.

Satisfied, Toothless nodded at her and stood up slowly since his body was sore after such a fall. _"We need to get him to human village."_ He reminded them all, causing them to tense and looked at each other, _"Berk is out of option, they would kill us first before asking question, our best bet is Hunterville"_.

For them to enter the village was a high risk thing to do, and they fear what may befall them should they try, for obvious reason, but Hiccup would die if they didn't do it. They didn't want to lose the boy, they cared for the boy like their own kin, so they come to decision. With a nod from each of them, they prepared to fly to the village.

"_Get on, Toothless."_ Bonecrusher growled softly at Toothless and motioned to his back, his size and strength would provide the best support for Toothless so the Night Fury could go with them, he also lowered himself so Toothless could climbed on easier.

"_Thank you, Bonecrusher."_ Toothless crooned in gratitude before climbing onto Bonecrusher's back, he looked at Hiccup to see Rainleaf using her other 'vine' to move Hiccup onto her back. Once the boy was secured on Rainleaf's back with Skyring flying above her to make sure Hiccup would stay in place, they flew to the village's direction.

XXXXX

Ruby was in the Training Ground, training archery with her Father when they heard the commotion, she exchanged glance with her Father before they ran out to see what caused the commotion.

"What's going on here?!" Rugra demanded as he and Ruby pushed their way through the crowd of people.

When they saw what caused the commotion though, their jaws dropped. "D- dragons!" Ruby squeaked as she saw the five dragons at the edge of the woods. The Nadder from the group squawked when it saw her, the small scratch on it's horn caught her attention and she immediately recognized it, "You are the one I accidentally shot." She mumbled as she looked at the dragon, she was shocked when the dragon nodded at her.

Not only Ruby, all of the villagers who were present were gasping in shock as well, it's not everyday they saw a dragon nodded in answer to a human's words. "But what are they doing here?" Alto, Ruby's boyfriend, wondered out loud, "Not only they just stood there and not attacking us, but they keep making some crooning noise".

As if on cue, the Changewing from the group of dragons walked forward while crooning softly, as if to try and tell them that it didn't mean any harm. The guards immediately aimed their arrows at the Changewing, "Wait!" Rugra stopped them as he looked at the dragon carefully, "There's something on it's back".

The Changewing looked at the Chief's eyes and moved it's vine-like appendage, they gasped in shock again when they saw the dragon lowered a certain boy to the ground at Rugra's feet. The boy was Hiccup, who often came to their village to trade and used the forge, and the boy was injured. The Changewing softly nudged the boy with it's head, it then crooned at the Chief pleadingly before returning to it's group.

Rugra looked at the dragons and noticed that all of them were looking at the boy with emotions that he thought would be impossible for dragons, worry and concern clearly shown in their eyes. He shook his head and focused on the matter at hands, the boy was wounded, that much was clear, and he need to see the boy's injury. He knelt at the boy and looked at the boy's left leg, the leg was at a strange angle was covered in blood, there's a mark where the Changewing wrapped around the boy's leg to stop the bleeding, and he must admit that the Changewing was smart to do so. If the Changewing didn't stop the bleeding, the boy would surely die before the dragons even arrived in their village.

"Everyone." Rugra called out as he picked the boy up, "Get back to work, I need to get Hiccup to the Healer, and leave the dragons." His statement earning many shocked gasps, "They didn't attack us at all, so it's safe to assume that they come here to get the boy some help. Don't attack the dragons, only attack if they attack us." With that, he run to the Healer's house.

Ruby watched her Father ran to the Healer's house direction before looking at the dragons again, now that her Father brought Hiccup away from their view, the dragons were laying on the grounds while looking longingly at the direction her Father took off earlier. She couldn't help but thought that the dragons were acting like a dog waiting for it's master, she shook her head to rid the thought before following her Father.

Elma, the Healer, told them to wait outside while she work on the boy, sometime later Rugra was called inside to help Elma with something. It's turned out that Hiccup's left leg had to be amputated, Ruby was shocked that the boy had to lose his leg, Rugra explained to her that Elma told him that the boy's bone had shattered to piece, it would be impossible to heal and would endanger Hiccup's like if they didn't cut it off.

After Elma finished treating the boy's injuries, Rugra explained to the villagers that the boy would live but need rest, they need to leave the boy alone so he could rest well with Elma watching over him. They were surprised when they heard a chorus of dragon's roar, the dragons turned out to be listening to them and was roaring as soon as they heard the good news, the people were surprised again when they realized that the dragons understood what the people was talking about.

"Shut up!" Elma yelled as soon as she realized that the dragons could understand human's words, it was proved to be right when the dragons stopped their roaring and looked at her with surprise clearly writted on their face, "The boy need to rest, so you better be quiet, dragons!".

The village was silent for a few seconds, wondering what the dragons would do being yelled at like that, they were surprised again when the dragons finally reacted. The dragons were looking at the one with black color, and the black dragon crooned at them. It's not even a second later that the rest of the dragons flew away, the changewing disappeared into the forest while the other three fly off of the island. Then, ignoring the shocked cries from the villagers, the black dragon forced it's way into the Healer's house and curled around the sleeping boy. The black dragon would glared towards anyone who come near the boy ever since, refusing to leave the boy's side no matter what.

XXXXX

Toothless let out a low croon as he lowered his head beside Hiccup's, a sad sigh left him as he looked at Hiccup's sleeping form. Three months and a half had passed since the day they brought Hiccup to Hunterville, and Hiccup had yet to wake up.

After they brought Hiccup to Hunterville, they were scared because they heard that Hiccup had caught a fever, something that was dangerous considering how weak Hiccup was. A week passed and Hiccup's fever had healed, they were relieved when they heard the news, but they were worried when Hiccup was still sleeping even after another week passed.

Well, not really sleeping. Hiccup was practically awake, his eyes were open and he could eat, with the help of the girl named Ruby, and all that, but his eyes were vacant. The boy didn't aware of his surrounding and wasn't responsive, his body was awake and yet his consciousness was still sleeping. The humans guessed that Hiccup was in that kind of state was due to the traumatic experience from when Hiccup got his wound, and the dragons agreed to the human's logic, fighting Red Death was clearly a traumatic experience for a human hatchling. They could only wait for Hiccup to wake up, really wake up.

A month later passed and still not a single sign of Hiccup 'waking up', Toothless and the rest of the dragons were beginning to worry that Hiccup would never wake up again, but such a thought had frightened them so much that they threw it away and assuring themselves that Hiccup would wake up. Even so, after three months and a half had passed without a sign that Hiccup would wake up, their worry returned with vengeance and they refused to leave the island anymore.

Toothless and Sharpshot were small enough that they could enter the house, the rest weren't so lucky and had to wait in the forest. So they had agreed that Toothless and Sharpshot would stay at the boy's side and to inform the rest, who would wait at the forest, as soon as Hiccup showed any sign of waking up. Sharpshot was chosen to be the messenger since Toothless refused to leave Hiccup's side.

"_Any sign of him 'waking up'?"_ Sharpshot asked as the green dragon* entered the house through the window.

**(*AN : Someone reminded me that Sharpshot's color is green, so I changed it.)**

"_Not yet."_ Toothless answered in low spirit.

Among their flock, Toothless was the one who knows Hiccup the longest and was the closest with the boy, he was the one affected the most with Hiccup's condition. The others might be sad if something happened to Hiccup, but Toothless didn't think that he would survive if he ever lose his Rider.

"_Here."_ Sharpshot dropped a big Cod near Toothless, _"Rainleaf caught it and told me to bring it to you."_ He explained as he flew to the bed and landed near Hiccup's head, on the other side from Toothless.

"_You can have it."_ Toothless said shortly.

"_Eat it."_ Sharpshot hissed angrily, _"You haven't eat anything for the last few days"._

"_I'm not hungry."_ Toothless said shortly again, he didn't even spare a glance at his favorite fish.

"_It doesn't matter if you're hungry or not. Eat it, big guy."_ Sharpshot hissed again, _"I know you are worried about Hiccup, we all do, but you can't just stop eating like this!"_.

Toothless narrowed his eyes at Sharpshot, _"Shut up."_ He snarled.

"_Whatever."_ Sharpshot huffed, _"Just know that Hiccup would be disappointed at you if you keep starving yourself"_.

"_What do you know about him?"_ Toothless growled in anger, he was the one who know Hiccup the best among them, he couldn't stand it that Sharpshot acted like he know Hiccup more than Toothless. _"You only know Hiccup for a day before we fought Red Death! Don't act like you know him more than me"_.

"_I know."_ Sharpshot said calmly with a sigh, _"But you aren't thinking straight at the moment."_ He locked gaze with Toothless, _"What do you think Hiccup will say if he saw you like this? If the situation is reversed, you don't want for Hiccup to starve himself just because you are in a sleep walking state, do you?"_.

Toothless couldn't say anything against it, because it was true. If he was the one who was in Hiccup's place at the moment, Hiccup refused to eat just because he hasn't woke up, he would surely scold his brother, not by blood of course, for it.

Reluctantly and with a long sigh, Toothless picked the fish with his teeth and swallowed it, before he returned to his previous position beside Hiccup. _"That speech earlier isn't coming from you, is it."_ He commented since he was tired of the silence.

Due to Toothless and Sharpshot's presence in the house, only the Healer dared to enter it. So when the Healer was out of the house, the house was filled with silence, save for the short conversation between Toothless and Sharpshot.

"_Nope."_ Sharpshot answered with a smile, somehow all of them learned how to smile from Hiccup, _"That was what Rainleaf told me to tell you if you still refused to eat"_.

"_What a mother hen."_ Toothless grumbled unhappily.

"_We are worried about you, you know."_ Sharpshot commented, _"You and Hiccup are our Alphas, without you, we didn't know what to do with the flock"_.

"_So?"_ Toothless asked nonchalantly.

"_So make sure you take care of yourself better."_ Sharpshot said before chuckling, _"Her words, not mine"_.

Toothless snorted, he raised his head to retort when he heard a soft moan. His head snapped to Hiccup's face to see if the boy was finally wake up, really waking up. He saw Hiccup's eyes fluttered open and his own eyes widened, it was only for a split second before Hiccup closed his eyes again, but Toothless had seen that the life had come back to the boy's eyes, _"Call the others!"_ He said excitedly to the Terror, _"Hiccup has finally wake up! For real!"_.

"_On it!"_ Sharpshot answered excitedly as he shot out from the Healer's house.

"_Come on, Brother."_ Toothless crooned in encouragement, _"Open your eyes, I know you can do it."_ He licked Hiccup's cheek, _"Open your eyes, my Brother"_.

It took a few more tries, but Hiccup finally opened his eyes. Hiccup looked around in confusion before his eyes locked with Toothless, a soft smile gracing his lips, "Toothless . . ." He whispered as he raised his hands and gently touch the sides of Toothless's head, "I miss you, buddy." He whispered softly as he touched his forehead with his dragon's.

"_And I miss you too."_ Toothless answered in a soft croon, enjoying the moment of bonding, _"I'm glad that you are finally wake up . . . My dear Brother"_.

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : Sorry for the late update. Review Please ^ ^


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